- This week, on GCN unboxing it's wheels!
Happy days, I love a pair of wheels.
Who doesn't love a pair of wheels?
In fact, these ones are particularly nice I assure you.
Brand new from DT Swiss.
Now as ever with GCN unboxing,
you can win whatever we unbox.
So, if you fancy a set of these
then stay tuned 'cause I'm gonna tell you
how you can enter the competition in a little while.
For now though, I think we need to see what's inside.
Whoa.
Oo-hoo.
Look at that.
This is the DT Swiss,
ARC
1100.
Or to give it it's full name, the ARC 1100 DICUT DB 80.
Rest assured, DT Swiss has a lot of data to show
that this wheel rolls a heck of a lot faster
than the name does.
But, there is also a good reason why it's called that,
so let me explain.
ARC refers to the rim level in the DT Swiss range,
with this one being the very top.
Then, 1100 refers to the level of the hub
in the DT Swiss range, with funny enough,
this one being top of the range.
Then DICUT refers to the inner material spoke hub interface
and then, 80. Well, 80 makes complete sense.
80 refers to the rim depth
with this one being the deepest and most aerodynamic
in the ARC range, of three different wheelsets.
When I say that these are DT Swiss'
top of the range wheels, you know that means a lot
because they make some great product.
They actually started out making only spokes,
and I gather you can trace the company roots
right back to making wire in 1634.
Not terribly relevant for this video I grant you,
but still, a good fact for you.
Now, the DT Swiss that we know today started in 1994
where they took on the mantle of Swiss spoke maker deluxe
and actually, they sell millions of the things every year.
In 1995,
we saw the first DT Swiss hubs
with the now legendary 36 tooth ratchet freewheels.
Now, I'll confess that when I dream about the noise
of freewheels because, you know, sometimes I do.
This is the sound they make.
(freewheels clicking)
Well, enough of the history lesson,
these ARC wheels are about as forward facing as it gets.
Now DT Swiss actually partnered up
with aerodynamics experts Swiss Side.
And they partnered up with them
to actually create the whole wheelset.
Now, I think it's the rim that dominates our attention first
so let's start with it, shall we?
You can see by the lack of any brake track
that these are the disc brake versions
but actually the disc and the rim brake wheels
share exactly the same rim profile.
And that is very good thing,
because the rim to tyre interface where the brake track is
or would be is actually one of the most important parts
in ensuring the stability
of the wheelset in gusty crosswinds.
And so, both of them share exactly the same DNA.
They've created a wheel
with a baseline drag of just 13.9 watts.
But then, as you turn the wheel slightly into the wind
so increasing what's called the yaw angle,
these bad boys actually turn into sails.
They create negative drag or forward thrust of 8 watts.
Yeah, that's right.
And they haven't gone for a super duper wide rim
to achieve this but the internal rim width importantly
is a nice, roomy 17 millimetres.
Interestingly though DT Swiss say that a 23mm wide tyre
is actually fractionally quicker on these wheels
than a 25mm wide tyre.
But the fraction is just 0.3 of a watt.
So, you'd imagine then that the improved rolling resistance
of a wider tyre with more than offset
it in most situations.
Now, all of that data by the way was gathered
at the GST Wind tunnel in Germany
and the tests were done at 45 kilometres per hour.
Aero though, definitely is not just about the rim profile.
For start, the hub has been changed
from a standard DICUT version to this aero one
and that saves 0.4 watts or 2.5%.
But then, we're starting to get on to the really clever bit.
Whoo.
DT Swiss looked at the drag numbers
and figured that there might be something missing.
Because of the ways in which bikes are tested
you only, so they say, ever see figures
for translational drag.
So, that's the force that actually slows a rider down
as they move through the air.
So, what's missing therefore is rotational drag.
So, they invented a rig to isolate it and then test for it.
And what they found was that it's actually
pretty significant, it makes up 25%
of a wheel's total drag.
How do you reduce that number?
Well, the first thing you do is you hide the spoke nipples,
that saves a watt or 8% of the total.
And then, you optimise spoke profiles.
It actually saves about one watt.
If you look closely, I mean really closely
you'll see the cross sectional profile of the spoke
actually changes as you go from hub to rim.
And that's because the relative velocity of the spoke
changes the further from the centre rotation that you go.
So, closest to the hub and where the spoke moves forward
in the slowest speed but actually goes backwards
at the fastest speed relative to the ground,
spoke is asymetrical, elliptical shape
so kind of aerodynamic in both directions.
However, closest to the rim where it goes forward
really fast but then actually goes backward
at the same speed as the ground, so relatively slowly,
it's actually a standard airfoil shape.
So, really aerodynamic but only in one direction.
So, whichever way you look at it then
these sound like super fast wheels.
But that's not all there is to them.
Going back to the hubs they've actually got
SINC ceramic bearings in there, unique to DT Swiss.
They got their own proprietary coating on there
and similarly their own super low friction seal apparently.
Then, sticking with the hubs for a minute,
you'll see if you look closely
that spoke to hub interface I was talking about earlier on.
So, they're straight pull spokes.
So there's no bend, or what's called an elbow,
in them so that should make for a stiffer wheel.
But then they've got their own unique head on there
so that's like a T-shape and apparently
it helps to resist torsion or flex.
There are 24 spokes in this front wheel
and also 24 spokes in the back wheel as well.
The rim, is tubeless compatible,
you can see it's already sealed.
What about the weight?
Well,
840 grammes for the front.
I'm not weighing it now, I'm not that good.
And 960 grammes for the rear.
So, pretty competitive for super aero, deep wheels
like these but if you did, I suppose, want something lighter
and we're happy to trade off a little bit of aerodynamics
then they have got the 62s and the 48s
in the same range as well.
Now, there is one last thing.
A little treat for ya.
Wheel bags! (laughs) Yeah!
Check it out, it's pretty wild.
Right! Enough of this tomfoolery.
Down to the nitty gritty.
I know, you wanna win these, how do you do it?
Well, first things first, you need to enter the competition
and to get through to that,
you need to click on the link
in the description beneath this video.
We'll announce the results in a forthcoming GCN show.
So, do make sure you subscribe to GCN
that way, you're not gonna miss it, if you don't already.
To do it, just click on the globe.
And then, if you're after some more content.
Well, I've got a really old one but a good one.
How important is aerodynamics? What is the fastest bike?
A lightweight bike or an aero bike?
That one is just down there.
And then, for one about, are wheels the best upgrade
you can make to your bike?
They definitely would be if you got these for free today.
Then click just down there.